A reflection on Isaiah 40:21-31 and Psalm 147:1-11 for the Fiflth Sunday After Epiphany, February 7, 2021
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God’?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:21-31 (NRSVA)
Praise the Lord!
How good it is to sing praises to our God;
for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the broken-hearted,
and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.
The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
he casts the wicked to the ground.
Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God on the lyre.
He covers the heavens with clouds,
prepares rain for the earth,
makes grass grow on the hills.
He gives to the animals their food,
and to the young ravens when they cry.
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.
Psalm 147:1-11 (NRSVA)
God is at work.
Sometimes, as these passages acknowledge, we need reminding of this. It does not always seem obvious. It does not automatically sit front of mind.
Yet always. In every situation. God is working.
Among political unrest. When it seems like there is not enough. When things don’t go to our plan. Always.
Isaiah begins by insisting that this should be obvious. It is something the people of Israel have long known. They have already been told and what he is about to reveal was never hidden.
Isaiah’s readers already know that sitting above the ‘circle of the earth’ is one who is involved in the rise and fall of prince and ruler. One with no ‘equal’. One who created each one and numbers and calls every army: because of the majesty and might of God, ‘…not one is missing’.
Importantly, in then midst of all this talk of the might of God there is a call: ‘Lift up you eyes on high and see’.
Do not miss this. It is too important. It gets to the core of why Isaiah is writing. It invites your response to the reality and perspective the prophet invokes.
Isaiah is telling you of the vastness of God so that you will be able to see above and beyond the political powers of your time.
It is said again – not doubt to ensure that you understand:
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God’?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The answer – by now – is ‘yes’. We have heard. We have known. The prophet has already reminded us of this long-unveiled reality.
Yet – perhaps because we so easily forget – he restates his claim: the Lord – in stark contrast to the rulers – is ‘everlasting’. His energy unlimited. His understanding ‘unsearchable’. This one ‘gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless’.
Isaiah concludes with an invitation. The prophet wants his readers to ‘wait’.
…but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
This is a call to rest in the previously celebrated strength of God – and allow it to make you soar above every temporary power!
Psalm 147 also invites our praise of the worker God. This one ‘builds’, ‘gathers’, ‘heals’, ‘binds’. Here God ‘determines’, ‘names’, ‘lifts’, and ‘casts’. YHWH ‘covers’, prepares’, makes’, ‘gives’.
And finally, God ‘takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love’.
Yes, our God is at work!
Conversation Starters:
When are you most likely to be conscious that God is at work? When are you least likely to be aware of this reality?
How do you ‘wait’ on the Lord? What does this call look like in your life?